Cold calling has been an industry tool for years, but just how effective is it?
By Craig Falck for Africa Report
Photograph: © Geotrac | Dreamstime.com
We’ve all experienced it: the phone rings, it displays “private number” and you reluctantly answer. “Hello, sir/madam… I’m phoning from XYZ Bank and we’d like to off…”. “No thanks”. “But we have a new service/product that will suit your needs”. “I said no thank you!” As soon as you hang up, you feel bad. It’s a human trait and you can’t help being rude to the poor cold caller on the other side of the line. Despite not wanting to hear what they had to say, you won’t quickly forget them…
Cold calling is when sales people phone people and try to sell them a product or service over the phone. In the modern day and age, just about everyone has a cellphone and we don’t think twice about handing our numbers out. Phone number lists are often sold or traded around various industries and this is often how these people get your number. Thing is, for every 90 people that they call from their list who don’t take their product or service, there are 10 who will. And that’s not such a bad return.
Face-to-face selling will always be the best way to flog your goods. You have a personal interaction with customers and can convince them on the spot of why they need whatever it is you’re selling. If they walk away, you can follow them and continue building your case. With cold calling, it can sometimes come across as being intrusive and very unfriendly. You can’t see the person, so there’s little chance of forming a bond with them. Very often they have a script to read and this feels very robotic – in fact, their tone of voice alone could be enough to make you throw your phone away without listening for another second. The key to cold calling is to rehearse your information to the point where you know it backwards but also maintaining a friendly disposition that will put your target at ease. You also need to be persistent – just about everyone is going to say “thanks, but I’m not interested” the first time. It’s up to you to keep pushing them and giving them information that will help them to make a decision about your product or service.
It’s important to do your research when deciding to use cold calling as a method of sales. It can work well in certain industries and with certain products while having disastrous results in another. The easiest way to find out is to do cold-calling research. Phone prospective clients and chat to them, conduct a survey and get them used to phone calls from your company. Once they’re warmed up (we’re talking after a couple of weeks or months), go for the kill and start cold-call selling.
Cold calling can come across as a very cold and impersonal way of selling products or services. However, there are industries, clients, products and services that it works well for. The only thing that you need to do is find out if it works for your enterprise. If not, there are many other methods of selling for you to choose from.
